Jeune Street

In a recent break from packing up our flat, I got diverted by bloggingheads.tv (thanks Munir) and came across this spicy clip. It's Ross Douthat and Heather MacDonald on the topic of the role of religion in the American conservative movement. That's what it was supposed to be about. It actually ended up being a debate about whether religion is necessary to maintain social order and robust personal values. As one who is not much acquainted with the conservative ways, I found Douthat very compelling (as he is in his journalism) and I thought he made a striking argument that religion is a valid source of knowledge. Furthermore, his humble disposition and mode of discourse throughout the debate is, I think, a model of how to respectfully engage with secularist interlocutors.